TOW Chandler Moves In
by LucyFitzgerald77
Summary: Chandler has just moved into his apartment across from Monica and the two of them have their first real conversation. Pre-Mondler!
1. Chapter 1

This is my first time writing a Friends fan fic. I'm one of the rare people that didn't watch the show until all the seasons had aired. I started watching it late 2009 but I became quickly addicted and now I've see ALL the episodes at least four times. Mondler is my favorite theme throughout the show. Those two lovebirds really hit me in the feels so getting to write about them was definitely fun!

**Early 1990's…Monica has recently moved into her grandmother's apartment. Phoebe hasn't moved in yet and no one lives across the hall…yet.**

* * *

"Hey Mon, I brought you something," Ross said as he walked in through Monica's door. She got up off of the couch and gave her brother a hug and snatched the gift away from him.

"A present! You know I love presents!" she exclaimed, tearing off the wrapping paper in a hurry. Inside was a thick, hardbound cookbook. "You remembered! That was so sweet of you to pick this up for me." They had been at a store together recently and Monica had mentioned she wanted it but couldn't afford it because she was just starting out on her own and was only buying things she needed.

"You're welcome," Ross replied, "I know you're already good at cooking but I thought it would make a good housewarming gift."

"How are you and Carol?" Monica asked, pouring him a glass of juice and handing it to him.

"We're good. She just started teaching at a new school and really likes it so far. And I'm getting a raise soon at the museum. Things couldn't be better."

"I'm sure Mom and Dad are proud of you too," Monica said wryly.

"Aw come on Mon, they're proud of you too! Their little girl has an apartment all of her own and a job at local restaurant."

"An apartment Grandma is letting me live in for almost half of the rent! And I can barely call the 20 hours I work a job."

"It's really not that bad! Remember my friend Chandler?"

"Yeah of course. The guy whose toe I cut off? What about him?"

"He's worse off than you are. Him and his roommate just got evicted for some stupid reasons and he has no place to live right now. And his job isn't even related to what he majored in. At least yours is."

"So? Why should I care about him?"

"I'm just trying to make you feel better Mon. You could be him!"

Monica just shrugged. "So where's he staying right now?"

"He's been living at his mom's house but she lives on Long Island so his commute is nearly an hour long. I would have offered to let him stay with me, but Carol didn't like that idea."

"Well, the apartment across from me is vacant."

"Really! I'll definitely tell him about it. I don't know if he could afford it alone but if he had a roommate I'm sure he could."

"It might be nice. At least I'd know someone here. It's weird not being on campus anymore and having my friends around. I wasn't super close to any of them but at least they were there. So far the only guy I've met is this grouch below me who's always complaining I'm being too noisy."

"I'll let Chandler know. I need to get going, I promised Carol we'd go out to dinner tonight."

"Bye Ross," Monica gave him a kiss on the cheek.

* * *

A week later, Monica was sweeping the kitchen when she heard a knock at the door. She groaned thinking it was Mr. Heckles complaining again. She opened the door but instead of Mr. Heckles, it was Chandler.

"Hey Monica," he said.

"Oh Chandler, hey!" Monica was relieved it was him. She gave him an awkward hug and gestured for him to come inside. "So are you all moved in?"

"Not really. I mean, all my stuff is in the apartment but it's still packed up and I have no electricity or water. I was hoping I could use your phone to have them turned on."

"Of course," she pointed at where her phone was and handed him a phone book. He flipped through it to find the number and began to dial.

Chandler looked a lot more handsome than Monica remembered. Of course, the few times she had seen him he had been wearing some crazy outfit. Today he had on a button down shirt and some jeans with tennis shoes. His hair was cut short and he looked a bit more mature in the face. When she had first met him, she thought he was cute but calling her fat had been an instant turn off. After all this time (and the toe cutting incident) she had forgiven him and just considered him Ross's former roommate. And now, she could call him her neighbor.

He hung the phone back up on the receiver. "Thanks. It should be turned on by the end of today."

"That's good news," Monica smiled, "Would you like some juice? Or maybe I could help you unpack?"

"Juice would be great!" he replied, "You don't have to help me unpack though. I don't have a ton of stuff."

"Please?" Monica asked, "I really don't have anything to do. I don't mind one bit."

"Well if you insist," Chandler agreed, "I can't say no to a pretty woman offering to give me a hand."

Monica laughed and handed him a glass of orange juice. They both walked out the door and across the hall. There were about fifteen boxes stacked up in the living room and a few pieces of furniture randomly distributed around the room. A mattress leaned up against a wall near one of the bedrooms.

"I'm going to look for a roommate to take over the other bedroom," Chandler said casually.

"What about the guy you were living with before? Ross told me you had a roommate," Monica asked.

Instead of opening the box he had walked over to, Chandler sat down on one of the barstools in the living room. "If you want to sit down, I think I put the couch cushions in that bedroom over there." He pointed at the bedroom door to his right. Monica walked in and got one and placed it on the couch. "Bill and I weren't really good friends or anything. I'm not exactly Mr. Clean but he was a slob and he was always out partying and coming back trashed. That stuff was fun in college but I'm past all that now. Mostly," he chuckled.

"Why did you get kicked out?"

Chandler grinned. "It couldn't have _been_ more awful! It was the morning after a party he had gone to and that night he had come back more drunk than I had ever seen him. He was doing all kinds of crazy stuff like drawing on the carpet with permanent markers and dancing around with a lampshade on his head. Then he got crazy and pulled down the light that was hanging in the dining area. Needless to say, the landlord wasn't thrilled. He was already super anal about everything and getting onto us about the smallest things. So he made us leave with just a 48 hour notice."

"Wow, that must have sucked," Monica sympathized.

"Ehh, it's okay. This place is a lot closer to work anyway. Thanks for letting Ross know about it."

"Absolutely," she smiled and stood up. "Do you want to go ahead and get started?"

"I guess. If we have to," Chandler complained, "I hate moving. I hope I stay here for a long time." He couldn't help but glance at her chest as she bent over to lift a box. Her blouse was a little loose in the front, revealing quite a bit of cleavage. He liked knowing she would be living right across the hall. They hadn't really hit it off so well the past few times they'd seen each other but today seemed to be a lot different.

She picked the box up with no problem and put it on the kitchen counter. "Are you okay with me arranging the cabinets?"

"I'm sure you can do it better than I can. I guess I'll get started on setting up the TV and VCR."

* * *

A few hours later, most of the boxes had been unpacked and the apartment was beginning to look more like a home. Chandler plopped down on the couch feeling pretty tired. Monica still had a lot of energy left though and suggested they go out to grab some dinner.

"Or, if you like, I could make you some dinner," Monica suggested.

"I don't want you to have to do that. We can just go over to the Chinese place next door," he replied.

"I love cooking Chandler, it's no problem. Besides, I really want to try out this dish in the cookbook Ross just got me and I need someone to tell me if it's good. Besides myself of course."

"Well if you're going to force me to eat your food than why not?" Chandler laughed. They both walked back over to Monica's apartment. Chandler sat down on one of the chairs around the table.

"It'll take me a little while to make that recipe so if you want a snack I have some chips or pretzels," she offered.

"I wouldn't mind some pretzels," he replied and Monica handed him the bag. She couldn't help but smile. Chandler was really sweet. She hoped today wouldn't be just a one time occurrence. He was really easy to talk to and made her laugh. He was just what she needed in her life right now.

* * *

About an hour later, Monica dished out the food she had made onto some plates. She had cooked a Cornish hen with vegetables but it had an almond honey glaze on top instead of the poultry seasoning and pepper she normally used. She had also baked some potatoes and carefully took the foil off of them and set out some sour cream and butter from the fridge.

"Wow Monica, this looks incredible!" Chandler commented, his mouth watering.

Monica beamed at him. "Thank you! I hope it tastes as good as it looks." She handed him a plate piled with food and sat down across from him.

He took a bite. "Oh my god, this is incredible! I could get used to this!" He quickly felt embarrassed. Had he just invited himself over here for dinner without asking?

"I'm glad you like it! You're always welcome to come over and eat. It gets kind of lonely just cooking for myself."

"Do Ross and Carol ever come over?" Chandler felt kind of bad that Monica didn't seem to have anyone around.

"Yeah sometimes. Usually it's just Ross though. I don't think Carol likes me that much."

"Who wouldn't like you? You seem pretty great to me."

"Try telling that to my parents! Ross is like their gift from God and I'm like their curse."

"What? You? I have a hard time believing that."

"I'm probably just exaggerating but it does seem like they favor him over me," Monica sighed.

"If it makes you feel any better, my parents aren't exactly my favorite people either."

"What's wrong with them?"

"What's right with them is a better question! Basically, my dad is a gay Vegas performer who left my mom for the house boy when I was a kid and my mom is an eccentric erotica novelist who's never in town." He waited for Monica's look of horror but she only seemed a little surprised and almost sympathetic.

"That definitely tops my parents! They might not like me but they're pretty normal for the most part."

"So you feel better then, right?"

"Maybe a little. I feel sorry for you. You must have had a crazy childhood."

"Yeah and it only got worse. Instead of getting to go to the normal high school with the few friends I had, my parents decided an all boys school would be better for me."

"That doesn't sound fun," Monica lightly touched his hand with hers and they both looked at each other for a few seconds, not saying anything. Right then though, the phone rang and they both sort of jumped because it seemed extra loud.

Monica got up and answered it. "Hello? Oh hey Ross. Yeah, he just moved in today. He's actually over here right now. For dinner. You know you're always welcome. I shouldn't have to invite you. If you want to come tomorrow I'll have plenty of leftovers from today. Okay great. Sure I'll tell him. Okay, bye."

"Ross says hi," Monica said as she walked back over to her chair to sit down.

Chandler had already cleaned his plate. "This was delicious. Thanks a lot Monica, and thanks a lot for also helping me with the unpacking. If I had just done it myself, there's no telling when it would have gotten done."

"You're welcome. It was fun getting to know you better too, " she smiled.

Chandler scooted his chair back and picked up his plate and took it over to the sink. "I probably should head on back. I need to set up my bed so I don't have to sleep on the couch tonight."

"Would you like some dessert before you go? It's not homemade, but I do have a frozen key lime pie in the freezer," she offered.

"Well I obviously can't say no to that!" he sat back down at the table.

After he had eaten two slices of the pie, he got up and gave Monica a quick hug before heading out the door, thanking her again for the help and for dinner. Monica smiled contently after he had left. She didn't know if they would ever get to hang out again like this but she hoped they would. Little did she know that dinners together would be a regular occurrence and she would get to know Chandler much better than she ever would have imagined.


	2. Author's Note

(Author's Note)

Thanks for the reviews! I decided to continue this story, but not by adding chapters to this one. I created another one called "TOW After Chandler Moves In (And Beyond) so please check it out!


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